Everness [English translation]

One thing does not exist: Oblivion.

God saves the metal and he saves the dross,

And his prophetic memory guards from loss

The moons to come, and those of evenings gone.

Everything is: the shadows in the glass

Which, in between the day’s two twilights, you

Have scattered by the thousands, or shall strew

Henceforward in the mirrors that you pass.

And everything is part of that diverse

Crystalline memory, the universe;

Whoever through its endless mazes wanders

Hears door on door click shut behind his stride,

And only from the sunset’s farther side

Shall view at last the Archetypes and the Splendors.

(1964)

• Artist:Jorge Luis Borges